


September Breeze

by regardsfromhell



Series: if you like me at all [2]
Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Rory and Jess get together right after Washington, Season 3 AU, in this house we don't accept dean forrester, the canon is no friend of mine, we deserve a long and loving relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21793798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regardsfromhell/pseuds/regardsfromhell
Summary: This whole situation was complicated, but there was a good reason for it; that reason had nice hair, a leather jacket and a crooked smile. Emotions were hitting her in waves: sadness, worry and now relief. She needed to tell Jess that she was his, this was really happening. They didn’t need to pretend that calling each other late at night to talk about nothing is a normal thing that platonic friends do; they could finally admit that they “like-liked” one another.Season 3 AU in which Rory and Jess start dating right after she comes back from DC.
Relationships: Rory Gilmore/Jess Mariano
Series: if you like me at all [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1570489
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	September Breeze

**Author's Note:**

> This is a continuation of a fic I wrote more than two years ago. If you don't want to read my previous work, you need to know that Rory and Jess kept in touch after she kissed him and left for Washington DCand that they confessed their feelings for one another when she came back to Stars Hollow. Enjoy!

The warm summer air was starting to disappear and leave room for the cool breeze of September. School hadn’t started yet, but Rory already found herself with a full schedule. She had decided to be with Jess and it was time to take the appropriate steps to make that possible. After she confessed her feelings to Jess, she went home, wonder how she could break up with Dean without making him suffer.

She wasn’t in love with him anymore, but she still did love him and she wanted to spare him as much pain as she could, which would be a considerable feat, taking into account the fact she was leaving him to be with the only person he actively disliked in a twenty miles radius. By the time she’d reached her house, she’d decided that writing him a letter was the only way to make sure she could tell him everything that she needed to. Penning the letter was bittersweet, the paper was stained by tears. She knew it was the right thing to do, she knew that she couldn’t string Dean along forever, but it didn’t make it any easier.

The breakup went by more easily than she expected, Dean was nice, but he wasn’t an idiot. He saw it coming, everyone did except her, apparently. He was still angry that it had to be Jess, but he didn’t put up much of a fight, he just gave her a disappointed look and walked away.

Rory thought that the hardest part was done, until she realized that she had to break the news to her mom. Her mom, the woman who liked Dean so much that they would hang out without her, and also the woman who believed that Jess was the devil incarnate. This was a conversation that she didn’t want to have and one she couldn’t skip with a nicely worded letter. She knew her mother would remind her of how lucky she got with Dean and let her know how foolish it is to let go of a guy like him, who will replace the bottle of their water cooler? Will they have to die of thirst? And it will all be her fault for being a gullible girl who was easily charmed by a handsome hoodlum. And Jess doesn’t even have a motorcycle, so why bother?

Maybe Rory was making it a bigger deal than it would be, but it was still a difficult conversation that she wasn’t ready for. Waiting until the next day would be better, maybe her mom would bump her head and be completely fine, other than the fact that she would get a particular type of amnesia that erased every memory of Dean’s existence in their lives. That would be nice, drastic but nice.

This whole situation was complicated, but there was a good reason for it; that reason had nice hair, a leather jacket and a crooked smile. Emotions were hitting her in waves: sadness, worry and now relief. She needed to tell Jess that she was his, this was really happening. They didn’t need to pretend that calling each other late at night to talk about nothing is a normal thing that platonic friends do; they could finally admit that they “like-liked” one another.

She was rushing towards the diner; she needed to see him and talk to him, and maybe not talk and do something else with their lips. She found herself in front of Luke’s window, she never knew she could walk that fast, yet there she was, staring longingly at Jess, who was reading a book behind the counter and ignoring a few clients. Luke came out of the kitchen yelling something, Jess stopped reading to roll his eyes and instead met Rory’s, he smirked and left the diner in a hurry.

They quietly walked side by side until they reached a quiet spot. Rory’s cheeks were on fire and she couldn’t control her smile. Jess took her hand and stroking it with his thumb, waiting for her to speak.

“I broke up with Dean.”

“Good.”

She didn’t get to see him smile often, but this was one of those miraculous moments when the stars aligned and he managed to raise both corners of his mouth simultaneously. She didn’t get to look at him long enough, his lips were already on hers, one hand on her cheek and the other tangled with hers. This was what she had wanted to do every time she’d seen him over the past year. It felt natural, she mentally kicked herself for not letting this happen sooner. Their pace was slow but hungry, they’re savoring each other and breathing doesn’t seem like a priority anymore. Rory put her arms around his neck and he held her waist. The only sounds she could hear was the drumming of her heart and the sound of their lips searching and finding each other over and over again. It was a perfect moment in time.

She could stay there alone with him forever, she knows they will rarely be alone together in a place like Stars Hollow. She pried her lips away from his, her forehead resting on his and eyes still closed.

“My mom doesn’t know anything yet; I’m telling her tomorrow”

“Okay”

“So let’s not be too obvious when we come to the diner in the morning, Miss Patty can smell subterfuge”

“I can take the day off if that will help, take one for the team”

“Ha, nice try. It won’t be necessary, we’ll be fine.”

“Okay” He whispered as he filled the space between them and kissed her again, it doesn’t feel urgent, but still necessary. She loses herself in him for a while, losing track of her thought and of time. She pulled away suddenly and he looked like he forgot how to breathe on his own.

“Oh shoot, I have to go, I told my mom I’d be back by seven.” She kissed his cheek and she started running away towards the blue sky of nightfall. He stood there looking at her silhouette until she was nowhere in sight and back to inhabiting his thoughts.

***

The morning light brightened the messy room, Rory was already awake and frantically rearranging her books. Yesterday’s euphoria had already worn off, Rory’s brain had only just woken up and it was already working overtime. She knew that her mother wasn’t a dictator, she wasn’t going to get kicked out, nor was she going to be punished; regardless, she knew that Lorelai loved Dean and trusted him, which is why they could spend time together at the crap shack and watch movies. Dating Jess would be different, she couldn’t really imagine him and her mother making witty comments while they watch _Gentlemen Prefer Blondes_ , she can only really expect them to be civil around her.

She was holding her copy of Howl, her fingers stroking the broken spine, the noises coming from the kitchen were getting louder and when the heavenly scent of coffee invaded her room, Rory realized that time was up, she had to muster up the courage and tell her mother the truth.

“Coffee’s ready!”

“I’ll be right there”

Rory shut her eyes for a minute, she thought of Jess, of his crooked smile, his wild hair, his hands that seem to fit perfectly in hers. She had to do this, everything was going to be fine. She left her room and sat across her mother, who was already halfway through her cup of coffee.

“Good morning sunshine. Did my ears deceive me or did you wake up at the crack of dawn to rearrange your furniture? Are you moving away? Did Harvard call to tell you that you can skip senior year and go straight to college? It makes sense, but I would’ve liked a heads up from those rascals at Harvard!”

Rory’s smile was faint. “I’m not going anywhere, I just happened to wake up early and my bookshelves needed to be reorganized anyway, the books I bought in DC needed a home”

“Anything in particular kept you up?” Lorelai always saw right through her, maybe she already knew everything, possibly even more than she herself knew.

“No… well, yes, there’s something that I need to tell you”

“Spill the beans, I’m always ready for early morning confessions”

Rory took a long sip of coffee while her mother was left wondering. She was a writer, she should know how to work those word things, but she seemed to have briefly forgotten how to structure sentences.

“Erm, well, you know that things with Dean haven’t been splendid for a while…”

“Yeah, something might have tipped me off to that”

“I figured, anyway I also grew closer to Jess, you know him, Luke’s nephew and you do like Luke, so you know that they’re good people”

“Yes, I do know the Danes, good people”

“Right, so I sort of broke up with Dean and started seeing Jess.”

Lorelai was wide-eyed, mouth agape. “When did that happen?”

“Approximately twelve hours ago”

“It all happened in a single afternoon? How?”

“I realized that Jess and I weren’t just friends before I went to DC”

“You only found out then?”

“Yeah, hindsight’s 20/20. Anyway, I took some time to think away from everyone and yesterday I found out that Jess feels the same way. I couldn’t string Dean along, I still want him to be happy, so I wrote him a letter in which I explained everything, he wasn’t angry, he said he saw it coming.”

“Aw kid, are you alright? That’s a lot for just one day.”

No dramatic reactions, that was truly incredible, were Rory and Jess really the only ones who didn’t know how they felt about each other? Were they _that_ clueless?

“I’m fine, I’m just hungry. I could really go for pancakes.”

“It’s good to know that your appetite hasn’t diminished, and today you’ll be extra happy about having breakfast at Luke’s”

Rory blushed, finished her coffee and left the kitchen to get dressed for the day.

***

The walk to Luke’s was oddly normal, it turned out that dating a new guy wasn’t going to change Rory’s whole dynamic with her mother. They talked about the regular stuff, Lorelai told her about all the maids her parents had hired and quickly fired during the summer and about the looks of horror in their faces; Rory told her about her experience living in close quarters with Paris and about the books she’d read while they were apart.

When they got to Luke’s, they had almost forgotten that things were now different in small but significant ways, they entered without a moment of hesitation. They headed for the counter and said hi to Luke, Lorelai and Luke were bantering as usual when Jess walked in from behind the curtain, they were suddenly reminded that things were indeed different now.

“Hi” Jess was holding back a smile.

“Hey” Rory blushed.

“Hi” Jess chimed in again.

“Hi” Lorelai went along with whatever they were doing.

“Hi” Jess persisted.

“Hi” Luke didn’t know if everyone was acting crazy or if he had gone insane.

“I have to go see Lane”

“Yeah, I have to go too”

“Bye” Rory’s cheeks still flushed.

“Bye” Words were starting to lose all meaning to Jess.

“Bye” Was it even still a word?

“Bye” It seemed to be just a meaningless sound.

“Bye” An empty vessel.

“Bye” Maybe it should be taken off the dictionary.

“Bye” The day had only just started and Luke was already tired.

The teens went their separate ways and Luke had never been more confused in his life. Was his nephew on drugs? Had he dragged Rory into it with him? He was going to pay for his actions. If he gave him more shifts, he wouldn’t have time for drugs, but he would have the money to afford it. Damn it, his brain needed to slow down.

“What the hell was that?”

“That was episode one of _Rory and Jess: The Early Years_.”

“What?”

“Rory and Jess are together.”

“Wow, this is great!” This was way better than anything Luke could’ve imagined.

***

Rory and Jess met in the alley behind Luke’s. They were officially dating now and there was no need to hide, but they weren’t ready to become Babette and Miss Patty’s latest gossip.

“Please don’t say hi.” Rory pleaded as she got closer to Jess.

“I’ve said it enough for a lifetime.” Jess filled the gap between them and kissed her cheek. “Is everything good?” Rory wrapped her arms around his neck and looked wistfully in his eyes, the way that young lovers do.

“Yeah, I told my mom and the news didn’t really shock her. Does Luke know?” Jess held Rory’s waist while his gaze travelled the distance between her eyes and her lips.

“I’m sure Lorelai’s told him by now.”

“That’s a good way to break it to him.”

“Yeah, it is.” Their lips met halfway, as if some sort of magnetism had forced them together. Their bodies also got closer, his thumb grazing her jaw and her hand his back pocket.

“I could do this forever” Rory whispered on his lips.

“Then let’s do it.” Rory smiled.

“But I really do have to meet Lane” Jess kissed her one more time.

“Alright, I’ll see you later.”

“You will.” She kissed his cheek, squeezed his hand and walked away.

Jess could really get used to being in Stars Hollow as long as Rory was here too.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked what I wrote. I'd love to read your feedback, so please leave a comment! If you have any request or if you just want to chat, you can find me on tumblr as jackiesimp. I'm also on twitter @fruityidiot. Have a wonderful day!


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